The race was on to cure the plague once again. Kalli stuck to my side as I worked. She frowned when I edited each villager’s traits, removing the plague and adding the immunity. I don’t think I can do that.

It’s strange how you can do some things that I can and not others.

It was a real mystery how our intertwined trait worked. She could use some skills that she didn’t have while others were unavailable to her.

When I ran my mana through one of the villager’s blood, she placed her hand over mine, tracing my mana as it did its work. I think I can do that.

The thought of her attempting to work on the dying man’s blood reminded me of the kid whose core disappeared in front of me.

If you want to practice, you can do it on me. Trust me when I say you don’t want to learn on a sick person.

Kalli didn’t need to ask what I meant because she could see the incident as it replayed over and over again in my mind. Her hand brushed against my cheek as she wiped a tear from my eye. What happened to you while I was gone?

It was well past midnight by the time we finished treating all of the villagers. From the looks of the reinforced huts, Joe had been busy. He made his way over to me when we emerged from the last hut. I won’t ask you to make me a bed tonight but please make that a priority for tomorrow.

The rest of the team had spread out through the village to do various tasks. Stefanie worked her magic on the newly cured kids, singing ballads to lull them to sleep.

Rundell had established himself as the grillmaster, roasting griffon meat over an open flame. Kiki and Wendy ran plates from hut to hut as the villagers were still a little too weak to get up from their straw beds.

Honora and Palmer stood guard at the village entrance. The only person I didn’t see was Raverly. I also noticed that the village had an eight-foot-high wall.

Was that wall always there?

Joe answered. That was the first thing I did. You can never be too safe.

Noticing us talking, Wendy brought a plate of food over and guided us to a hut. You can sleep in here.

Half of the huts in the village had been empty when we arrived. I felt sick at the thought of the lives we might have saved if we had been faster.

Lost in dark thoughts, I just stared at my plate. Kalli noticed and pressed a piece against my mouth. You need to eat. You used a lot of mana tonight. We aren’t even going to get a full night’s sleep again either.

I let her feed me. After dinner, I made another bed that filled the tiny hut. Wendy poked her head in just as we were about to get in bed and held out a rock. Can you make me a blanket?

Nodding quietly, I edited the rock.

Congratulations. You have reached level 21

My legs buckled and I nearly wet myself as the intense feelings of Kalliphae leveling up slammed into me. We leaned into each other, unable to do much else until our bodies stopped convulsing.

I found my voice first. “Is it just me or was that a whole lot more intense?”

Kalli punched me in the arm. She was still gasping for breath. “Everything is more intense ever since you did that thing with the churro.”

“I didn’t realize that applied to dreams too.” I gasped.

“I was hoping we could continue the dream from last night.” Kalli whined. “Except for the falling part at the end, that is.”

Looking around for the first time, I noticed we were in Kalli’s dream again. “Speaking of dreams, what is tonight’s dream about?”

Kalli shuddered as she clung to me. “If it’s what I think it is then I don’t want to be here.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

It didn’t take long for her fears to be realized when a little kid emerged from the nearby monastery. Kalli explained it to me. “This is where all of the orphans live. The nuns are the only ones who are willing to take us.”

Out of curiosity, I asked, “Why don’t you want to be here?”

Kalli pointed. At first, all I saw was the kid. That alone didn’t explain the apprehension that I could feel boiling off of Kalli. Then the door opened up again and a group of four more older kids emerged.

They were laughing and joking with each other. Then they noticed the kid and immediately rushed over to surround him. They started talking to the younger child though we were too far to see what was said. I looked down to find Kalli’s hands balled up into fists.

She fought against an intense desire to flee and leave the poor child to his fate. Remembering the fierce girl that had kissed me for the first time when she stood up to my bully, I felt a burning urge to return the favor.

“Hey!” I barked as I stomped over toward the bullies.

No answer. I ran up and placed myself between the bullies and the little kid. Then something strange happened. The bullies vanished and reappeared behind me.

I had no clue what was going on. Kalli made her way over and started to shout at the bullies. “Leave him alone!”

The boys spun around to confront the girl. I watched in frustration as the little kid took the opportunity to scamper off. Kalli, on the other hand, was visibly relieved.

She steeled herself as the bullies took turns pushing her around, yelling insults at her. “Are you sure you’re not a boy? You sure don’t look like a girl? It’s no wonder your parents threw you away like rubbish. You should just go to Madam Mordmonts house and work there. That’s all you’re good for.”

The fiery girl I knew was gone. In her place stood a scared little girl who was fighting to hold back tears. Tears would tip off the older children that their words were having an effect.

Once again, I placed myself between the bullies and their target. They ignored me as though I wasn’t even there. One of the kids flickered through me as he moved in to shove Kalli.

“Kalli, fight back!” I cried as I desperately attempted to thwart the older boys.

Once the kid decided to use violence on my girlfriend, all bets were off. I placed my hand at his back and gave him a strong burst of wind mana, intending to send him flying.

NOTHING HAPPENED.

I tried pushing my mana into the bully. The problem was there was nothing there. No mana. No blood. No organs. No core. The bullies were apparitions. Figments in a young girl’s nightmare. That’s what it was, a nightmare.

The only person I was going to have any effect on was shaking on the ground, pulling her knees to her chest. I sat next to her and wrapped my arms around her.

The kids kept taunting her, ignoring my presence. I tipped her face up, forcing her to lock eyes with me which were wild with panic. Then I did the only thing I could think of that might help. I kissed her.

What happened next was not what I was expecting. Everything faded away in an explosion of brilliant multi-colored fireworks. When my vision cleared we were back in the makeout room on Earth.

We kissed for what felt like an eternity. Kalli wouldn’t let me go even when I wanted to come up for air. When she finally did, we looked into each other’s eyes. She blushed and draped her arms across my shoulders. “My hero. You saved me with a kiss.”

“Just like you did for me one time.” I reminded her, a lopsided grin forming on my face.

Kalli got a faraway look in her eyes and then she replied. “That was so gross back on that bus. So much for my first kiss.”

“Oh really?” I raised an eyebrow at her and went in to kiss her again.

She swooned in my arms and admitted, “Fine. Maybe it wasn’t all that bad.”

I brushed her hair out of her face and whispered, “You know, since we’re here, we can do things that we haven’t done yet.”

Kalli rolled her eyes. “In your dreams, Mel.”

“Actually.” I pointed out. “They’re your dreams.”

I woke up that morning with a huge smile on my face. Kalli was also in the process of waking up. Sometime during the night, we had gotten tangled up in the sheets. Her arm was laying over my chest and she had somehow gotten her leg trapped between my knees.

We were just untangling ourselves when Kiki poked her head in the door. “Oh good, you’re up. There’s something you need to hear about out here.”

The entire village had gathered when we made our way outside. As soon as they saw me, everyone fell to their knees. Kalli and I exchanged a look of surprise. I walked over to the closest villager and held a hand out to her. “Please, everyone, you don’t have to kneel.”

Slowly, the villagers rose to their feet. A young woman with braided raven black hair bowed and said, “Greetings, chosen one. My name is Thiora.”

I turned to Kiki and asked in group chat.

What does she mean by ‘chosen one’?

The grin on Kiki’s face made me feel like she was up to something. You’re going to love this.

Kiki’s expression soured when Wendy filled us in. The villagers say that a prophet came to town a few weeks ago and told them about a hero from another world that would cure everyone of the plague.

Oh, is that all?

Even though I said it sarcastically, Kiki shook her head and laughed. Nope. It gets even better.

Wendy cleared her throat and went on. He said that this hero will unite the dark lands and end the quarantine.

Who is this prophet?

Wendy turned to Thiora and asked, “What can you tell us about the prophet?”

Thiora cleared her throat and said, “He happened upon us a month ago. He offered a vision of the future in exchange for a meal and a cot to sleep on.”

Kalli tugged on my sleeve while Thiora spoke. Mel, this guy visited the last village too. I had forgotten about it because it was so long ago.

Did he give you a prophecy about me too?

She shook her head nervously. He was already gone before I got here. The prophecy was, um, about me.

What was the prophecy?

Kalli turned red and said, I don’t think I want to tell you about it.

I suddenly found myself wanting to know even more. Scanning the crowd for a familiar face, I said, “Hey Honora, did the prophet visit your village? I want to know what he said.”

Kalli waved her arms frantically. “Please don’t answer that.”

Honora looked back and forth between us before stammering, “Um, yes. Is it a secret Miss Kalliphae?”

The look of panic on Kalli’s face reminded me of her expression when she faced her bullies. Her shoulders sagged and she said, “Fine. Tell him about it. He’s going to find out sooner or later anyway.”

Honora looked at me uneasily but I shook my head and said, “Don’t worry about it. Kalli can tell me when she’s ready.”

From there, I made breakfast for everyone and we got to work. Having gained experience from our adventures in the first village, the second went a lot smoother.

Joe and I worked as a team creating the buildings. He knew exactly what he wanted, and I laid out the materials for him. From there I spent the majority of the day awakening every member of the village. I created language primers and instruction booklets for the skilled classes so that they could begin learning the finer points of their trade.

I made extra seeds for Wendy so that she would be prepared when she started a garden. Walking from home to home, I made sure that everybody had a comfy bed to sleep in.

The sun had already set when I got to the world editing. I lingered high in the sky looking down at the clutter of buildings that Joe made. Kalli’s voice startled me out of my thoughts. Well, this is interesting. Is this how you stretched our house back in the last village

Yes. Are you up here with me? Do you have access to the world editor?

Kalli answered my questions by rearranging the buildings that I had already started on. It looks like this needs a woman’s touch.

Kalli wasted no time getting to work. She focused on the villager’s houses, making brightly colored bedrooms for each of the children. Her houses had dining areas and tiny rooms with chamber pots. Kalli even dug basements beneath the buildings for storage.

While she worked on the buildings, I focused on the surrounding countryside, making natural barriers to protect the town as I had in the previous one. I raised the village so that it rested on top of a hill.

When Kalli finished she beamed at me and said, This is so much fun.

Once we had the basic outline finished, I edited dinner for the villagers and we called it a night.

What is it? Kalli asked as I sat on the edge of the bed. You still want to know about that prophecy, don’t you?

No. Well, actually, I am curious but that isn’t what I was thinking about. There is something I need to teach you.